Las Vegas Raiders depth chart battle: Logjam at wide receiver

Las Vegas Raiders 2020 depth chart battle at wide receiver.

The Las Vegas Raiders saw a need at the wide receiver position heading into the 2020 offseason, and they used both free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft to absolutely kill it with fire.

Although the breakout of tight end Darren Waller as the team’s top pass catcher was exciting this past season, the Raiders knew they needed to make moves at wide receiver to force defenses to defend every level of the field, and they did just that.

In addition to making Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III the first receiver off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Raiders signed former first-round pick Nelson Agholor in free agency and drafted South Carolina’s Bryan Edwards and Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden Jr.

Although Bowden is expected to play running back for the team, he has proven he can split out and play wide receiver as well.

Aside from 2019 free-agent acquisition Tyrell Williams, the Raiders didn’t have a very clear hierarchy at wide receiver last season, at least not until Hunter Renfrow started picking up steam as a weapon out of the slot.

In-season trade acquisition Zay Jones could be a factor in 2020 after getting his feet wet with the Raiders last season.

Raiders 2019 wide receiver snap counts

• 1. Tyrell Williams, 727 snaps
• 2. Zay Jones, 461 snaps
• 3. Hunter Renfrow, 435 snaps
• 4. Trevor Davis, 185 snaps

With tight end Darren Waller acting as the team’s number one receiver, the Raiders had some really odd snap counts and percentages among their wide receiver group as a whole with none of these players catching even 50 passes (Renfrow caught 49, though).

At this point, there’s no doubt that Tyrell Williams is what he is — a legit WR3 or WR4 who can play strictly on the outside and use his size, speed, and athleticism to stretch a defense.

He led the Raiders with six touchdown catches last season.

The snaps eaten up by Zay Jones last year will undoubtedly be eaten up by Henry Ruggs III, the team’s top draft pick and a guy they have really high hopes for in 2020.

Ruggs’ speed is other-worldly, but unlike many former Raiders draft picks with sub-4.3 speed, Ruggs has excellent play strength, hands, and route-running ability to go along with that speed.

Darren Waller played 922 snaps this past season for the Raiders, over 90 percent and third-most on the offense.

His snap count and usage could go down in 2020 if the Raiders attempt to employ more of a dynamic group of skill players in the passing game.

Since Jon Gruden is also old school and loves to pound the ball on the ground, the Raiders will also have more receivers than they can possibly feed adequately in 2020, but that doesn’t mean those receivers can’t be effective when they are on the field.

The other factor in this is Derek Carr’s ability to spread the ball around.

For the past two years, the Raiders’ most targeted offensive weapon has been a tight end. The Raiders need to scheme plays for Carr to be able to push the ball outside the hashes and deeper down the field on a more consistent basis.

That’s where Henry Ruggs comes into play.

Based on their current group of players, it would not be surprising to see the Raiders’ top four wide receivers (based on snap counts) be:

1. Henry Ruggs
2. Hunter Renfrow
3. Tyrell Williams
4. Nelson Agholor

If Bryan Edwards is able to stay healthy, he could very easily push Agholor down the depth chart as well.

There are plenty of options for Jon Gruden and Derek Carr in the passing game this year. They will need to be creative in getting all of these players opportunities, but based on their production last season and the investments made this year, the trio of Darren Waller, Henry Ruggs, and Hunter Renfrow is going to be heavily leaned on as the Raiders transition to Las Vegas.